“Harried Deposit”
Written by Jillian Locke and David Moody
Lieutenant Serenity Jackson and Captain Lenti Utex


The doors to sickbay obediently shushed open to admit another patient, another casualty of the beating that the Victory had just sustained at the hands of the cloud without. Sickbay was a flurry of activity as Utex had expected on the way. He and Sito Jaxa supported Lieutenant S’Konn, who had been injured as part of his console exploded on the Bridge as the ship tried to make its way through a mysterious cloud the ship was forced to attempt to make a way through on route to Deep Space Nine.

Utex sized up the scene, holding S’Konn’s lower back with his right arm, holding the man's left hand over his shoulder with his right. It was all Sito and Utex could do not to let the Vulcan’s feet drag the ground; the man was insensate.

The trio ambled their way the long way around to the bay’s biobed array, keeping close to the walls to avoid collision. Doctor Frobisher noticed them along the way and called out, “Be right with you, Captain.”

“No rush,” the man called over his shoulder, realizing the importance of everyone in the bay. Sito and Utex deposited the unconscious operations officer one of the two last empty biobeds.

Sito explained, “I need to go check on things, sir. I’ve got some diagnostics to run and I’d like to be there during the investigation of that . . . uh,” she trailed off, uncertain of how to describe what the Bridge crew had witnessed.

Utex leaned close, “Don’t discuss it, Lieutenant.” Straightening, he told her, “I’ll see you on the bridge, Lieutenant.” As Sito Jaxa turned to leave, Utex quickly swept the surroundings in a rapid tight circle to ensure no one had heard what Sito had let slip. To his surprise, he saw Lieutenant Serenity Jackson. She was apparently still recovering from her early pregnancy, and was, unfortunately within hearing range; the next biobed over; right behind him. He hoped she had been asleep, but the question on her face spoke volumes to the contrary.

Sere slowly lifted herself up onto her elbows. "Captain?" As she greeted him, the question was clearly evident on her face and in her voice.

Lenti Utex looked doubtful. He looked over to S’Konn, then back to the Jackson. “Don’t worry, Lieutenant,” he quipped quickly. “He’s not having twins.” He was recalling the moment that Sito and himself had brought Lieutenant Serenity Jackson to Sickbay in much the same way that the duo had had to escort S’Konn. The security officer, however, had been fully conscious; she had been veritably bursting forth with life, in fact. He chuckled at his own private joke for half a beat, then finished with “He’s not even pregnant!”

Spying the hermetically protected infantile crib to the security officer’s right, he made his way toward it. “Congratulations,” he said, “by the way,” as he stepped around the foot of her bed.

She gave a slight nod. "Thank you. What happened to him Captain?" she asked softly not to wake the two children sleeping beside her.

Looking only a bit uncomfortable at the direct, somewhat unavoidable question, Utex looked behind him at the Vulcan, who was stirring only slightly. As he watched, he could see the operations officer’s eyes twitching behind their lids, indicating that the man was in a state of sleep, which was good. “He was in an accident,” Utex sidestepped as he turned back to face Lieutenant Jackson.

Her blue eyes narrowed slightly. "Turbulence does not normally cause that much injury," she stated calmly. Glancing at the Vulcan, she added, “Not to mention that Vulcans normally have the good logic to hold on to something."

Utex smiled. She had almost had him. Not only was the man so intrigued about what he had seen on the Bridge, that part of him was bursting at the seams to let someone know about it, but Jackson was also confined to Sickbay and likely would not be spreading any rumors any time soon.

Lenti realized and considered briefly that fact that what was compelling him to let her in on what the viewscreen had peddled to the visual input of the crew was likely Ckets Ral, one of Utex’ previous and unauthorized hosts. Ral had been the consort to a Cardassian Glinn named Taleel. She had also been the woman who still had the memory of Lenti Tosh cutting her down as she was nearly insensate, heavily drugged and lay at the feet of Glinn Taleel.

Outwardly, he smiled at Serenity Jackson. “That’s a good point,” Utex told her. Leaning toward her, he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “The galaxy crested and we rode the wave into the next,” he told her in mirth.

Smiling, he waited the stretch of roughly sixteen milliseconds as close as he could count, then turned to leave, heading back toward his wounded Bridge.